by SM Blooding
We all stared at one another, waiting.
Marko Dudyk entered the arena and stood in the center.
The crowd cheered. The platform vibrated under the pounding of their feet. Anxiety ate at my anger. I pushed it away. Nerves would serve no purpose today.
Marko waited for the crowd to die down. “You all know the rules of the game. However, instead of first blood, we’re raising the stakes to either removed from the arena, or otherwise removed from the game.”
I frowned. Did he mean what I thought he meant?
The others glanced in my direction as well.
Everyone except Iszak Tokarz.
I watched the two of them through narrowed eyes. Was there a connection—I brushed that thought away. I didn’t have time to entertain that right now. “Marko Dudyk,” I called. “You don’t mean that we are to fight one another to the death. That would be a travesty to all our tribes.”
He paused, his cheeks pulled in as he thought of his response. “However you see fit to remove each other from the games, Synn El’Asim.” He gathered his dark robes and walked out of the arena.
Ryo glanced at me.
Eosif eyed Oki and Neira, his mouth set.
Iszak was the only one who appeared happy at the new rule.
He attacked, wind bringing sand in from somewhere outside the arena. It pummeled us.
This was no time to be a gentleman. I called my Mark, burning my shirt as it lifted from my body in long whips of molten lightning. The tendrils of heat melted the sand, creating a glass barrier.
Ryo shouted something, running up to me. He hit the glass wall with his sword. His Mark pulled from his body, surrounding him in fire as he struck the glass again, this time shattering it.
A gale force wind took the shards and hurled them at Iszak.
The man pushed it aside with wind of his own, never letting the sand fall.
Eosif pulled off his sword belt and his long coat as he walked calmly in my direction, his head bowed, blonde hair whipping his face. The blue lines of his Mark rose, tossed by the winds as he strapped his weapon back on minus the coat. He flexed his hands on either side of him, and water rose through the slats in the platform, rising like a tide and engulfing Iszak.
The sands fell.
Oki’s dark eyes were unfocused, her blue mark dancing from her arms. All of her attention was on the waves of water that continued to fall on our opponent.
Neira stalked toward us, her attention on Iszak. “You cannot keep him restrained like this forever.”
Ryo gestured with his flame.
I stilled him with a hand on his arm. “You’ll just burn him, or turn the water to air.”
He narrowed his eyes, but nodded.
“Can he breathe in there?” Oki asked with a struggling gasp.
“His element is air, Oki,” Neira said, her eagle eyes trained on the water. “Most assuredly, he can.”
A cry went up in the crowd.
Something cracked overhead.
We spun, looking upward just in time to see the platform directly above us shatter, caving in. There was too much area between the trunks. People scattered. Shrapnel littered the area.
I grimaced and sent my whips of lava lightning to deflect as much of the big stuff as I could.
Eosif and Oki didn’t look up from drawing the waters from the ocean, up several levels of Ino City and onto Iszak.
Neira clapped her hands and a strong wind blew the remaining shrapnel from the immediate area.
The crowd cowered.
A tearing rip filled the air followed by the kind of scream I never wanted to hear again in my life. The scream of a lethara. I searched the immediate area, trying to figure out what was going on.
The nearest trunk was being shredded by wind.
I stared in horror. “We have to figure out a way to get him out of the game,” I shouted. “Before he does anymore damage.”
Eosif pushed with his hands, propelling the wave of water, pushing it and the man inside it closer to the edge of the arena fence.
Oki assisted.
Neira’s attention was focused on the wind shredding the lethara. Her muscles bulged and flexed as she fought to keep the jellyfish unharmed.
Ryo followed Iszak and the wave of water, his fire at the ready.
I looked where they were headed. There were too many people. Didn’t they see what we were trying to do? I reached out and tapped the fence with my lightning.
It leapt with fire.
That got everyone moving.
Eosif dug in, the muscles in his neck bulging. Oki’s face folded in anger, her fingers curled. The wind picked up speed, battering us with shrapnel and debris. Neira threw an arm up to shield her face as she stared up at the lethara’s trunk. She bared her teeth, her mouth open. I could barely hear her yell.
Inch by brutal inch, we fought Iszak back, pushed him through the opening in the fence.
As soon as he was out, Eosif dropped the wall of water that had been surrounding him. Oki breathed heavy, her expression grim.
The raging storm winds ceased.
Ryo took three steps forward. “Release your hold of our lethara.”
Iszak looked around, his eyes filled with thundering rage. He curled his lip. “No.” He stepped back into the arena, his hands raised. The winds roared with fury, hurling shrapnel toward the trunk of the lethara.
I sent my Mark toward the larger pieces, disintegrating as many as I could. Ryo’s fire joined mine as burning bits of dried sea flax littered the crowd.
Neira yelled, her hair whipping around her, her Mark pulling her closer to the trunk.
The lethara howled in pain, the platforms jostling.
People screamed.
Eosif and Oki roared as one, taking the ocean water and hurtling it at Iszak.
Ryo ran toward the man, throwing one ball of fire at him after another.
Iszak’s wind came at the trunk from a different direction. He was intent on disabling the lethara, but to what point?
“Synn!” Eosif shouted. “Take him out!”
If I touched him with my Mark, he would be severely maimed or killed. He might be out of his mind and trying to harm a lethara, but that didn’t justifying me maiming him?
Yes! But not like that. I took out my curved sword and hurled it at him.
It caught him in the shoulder. He staggered, shock and surprise exploding over expression. Stumbling, his hands out, he turned to me.
Judging by the amount of blood covering his coat, I might have gotten an artery. That hadn’t been my intention.
Shrapnel fell to the ground. The winds stopped as his Mark retreated to his neck, disappearing under his coat. He tucked in his arm and fell, first to his knees, and then onto his butt.
I walked up to him and grabbed my sword, my Mark still burning with rage around me.
“You’re going to spare my life?” he rasped.
I leaned in. “I know you killed those innocent people, just as I know you endangered many more today. But that doesn’t give me the right to kill you as I feel you deserve.”
He blinked in stunned disbelief.
I pulled my blade from his chest.
He fell to his back, howling in pain. The healers pushed through the crowd as everyone picked themselves off the floor.
I walked back to the surviving members of our event, cooling my rage, bringing my Mark back to my body.
Eosif stared at me. “So now, vhat do we do?”
I shrugged. “We could try killing one another, or we could put it to a vote. It’s up to you.”
He narrowed his eyes and looked around the group. “It vould appear I am out numbered. There are more of you and your Great Families than there are of those who are not.”
I shrugged. “You’re assuming they’d vote for me.”
Ryo snorted. “I will not be.”
Oki sighed deeply. “I don’t want it. Ino City is enough for me.”
“I have too much as well. If I
can’t figure out what I’m doing with the fleet, the city, and the station, how can I lead a league of leaders?”
Eosif stared at me in disbelief.
“I, for one,” Neira said into the quiet, “would very much like to be considered.” She raised her chin.
I looked at Ryo. “What about you?”
He thought about it for a long moment. “It would be awkward to be your captain and the leader of the league.”
I winced. “About like being a Family leader and a knight of Tarot?”
He tipped his head.
“If I do end up with the knighthood, the fleet is yours. You need to work on gaining the respect of the El’Asim.”
“I believe I have that, little brother.”
“Do they respect you enough to follow you for a lifetime?”
He was quiet.
I turned to Eosif and Neira. “So that leaves the two of you.”
Neira looked at Eosif.
He studied me.
“I recommend,” I said as the crowd watched, “that whoever is voted as leader takes the other as second.”
Eosif nodded. “Agreed.”
I looked to Oki and Ryo. “Then, let’s vote.”
Oki looked between the two and chucked her chin in Neira’s direction. “She has a level head and would make a good, strong leader.”
I turned to Ryo.
He opened his hands, his eyebrows high. “I’ve seen Eosif in action. He is cool when the pressure is hot. He makes good decisions.” He shook his head at Neira. “I haven’t seen you outside the combat arena.”
The warrior woman shrugged and turned to me.
“I am with Ryo. I’m sorry, Neira. What I’ve seen of you so far, you are quite capable, but I’ve seen Eosif in action.” I turned to him. “You have my vote.”
He signaled Marko Dudyk to join us.
The mediator stopped several metres away, his hands folded in front of him as he covertly watched Iszak being cared for by the healers.
“Ve have made a decision.” Eosif nodded. “I am leader of the league. Neira is my second.”
The crowd was quiet.
I raised my voice. “However, we will need to discuss a language. You are the only one who speaks Vrmuusian. Neira’s primary language is close to Adalic. What language would you choose that we use in your honor?”
Eosif turned to me. He was quiet for a long moment. “Ve vill pay honor to you, El’Asim, for giving us this opportunity to unite and to give our peoples peace.” He turned to people gathered around us. “Ve vill speak Adalic.”
The crowd’s cheer was dampened. They appeared confused as they looked to each other as if trying to figure out what had just happened.
I clapped Eosif on the back and steered him through the press of people to the dais. “I believe it’s time for festivities,” I yelled. “Tonight, we celebrate our new leaders!”
Mother stood on the dais, her eyes dark, her expression quiet. She frowned at me in question.
I shook my head at her and led Eosif and Neira up the four steps. “It is the way it should be, Mother.”
She looked away, her lips tight.
This was a new era, after all. And as the new era’s founders, we were allowed to do what made sense to us.
I just hoped it was the right decision.
CHAPTER 30
BEING THE EL’ASIM
Everyone was in an uproar over what we had decided. The elders of the Seven Great Families insisted that we fight, and prove the better leader that way.
But if we were the ones who had made it that far, and we decided how to choose the leader, then who were they to interfere? I think they forgot that the whole purpose of the peace games was to end the fighting.
Nerves were high. Few knew of the Novokshorovs or the Vashkelrans, though I felt confident that if the people just gave them time, they’d find a level of comfort with Eosif and Neira.
The actions of Iszak Tokarz had rocked the mood of the games, but he’d also gained the attention of the elders. Finally. He’d been banned from the games and from the league. A real investigation had started. Marko Dudyk was removed from overseer of the air games. We found no proof of his involvement, so he and his tribe were allowed to stay in Ino City. Mother was livid that her lethara was damaged. I doubted Marko Dudyk would have a comfortable stay.
My need for justice wasn’t filled.
I had other things to worry about. I had to figure out what it meant to really lead the El’Asim family. If the games had proven anything, it was that I wasn’t as ready to lead as I and everyone hoped. Things were out of control between the fleet, the city and the station, and I had to find some way to get that fixed.
Ryo was a huge asset. Mother had trained him and Oki since the day they could walk to take over the reins of Ino City. He walked me through accounting, which apparently Father never paid much attention to. At least according to the accountant’s shocked face. However, the man and his two daughters were very good at keeping the accounts.
We spent more than we collected. It was time to go on a lightning run.
Ryo was excited about this prospect. He had never had the opportunity to collect lightning. I grinned. I would have loved to have shown him, but I knew I was needed elsewhere. Asim City and the station both required my attention. Isra volunteered to teach him while I attended to my other duties.
I took the accountant and his oldest daughter with me. The refueling station loomed a few kilometres in the distance, the air filled with the noise of its engines and fans.
“What do you want us to do, sayyd?” Ferran’s thickly creased eyes narrowed at the bright world around us as we rose to meet up with the station high above the incoming storm.
I rolled my head on my neck, standing at the rail near mid deck. “I want you and Lana to tell me how I can financially keep the station afloat, or if I can.”
The older, shorter man sighed. “I am too old to be having these kinds of adventures, sayyd. ”
I raised my eyebrows at him. “What kind of adventures would that be?”
He gestured to the noisy, floating platform. “I have no idea how that thing even works. How would I know how to keep her flying? I am too old to learn these things.”
“Then it is a good thing you have two daughters who are eager to follow in your footsteps.”
Lana stood at the rail on the other side of her father, her chin raised. Her dark brown hair fell in a single braid down the middle of her back, her lithe fingers curled around the pale rail. “And will you have us review the books for your letharan city, sayyd?”
“Though, if you would prefer, Ferran, I can send your daughters.”
The older man shook his head, but he didn’t look any more comfortable or happy about the situation. “Taalah is too young to be traipsing about your cities and stations and fleets.”
“But she would be safe inside the city,” Lana said, keeping her gaze on the station looming in front of us, her eyes bright.
Ferran glared. “What has become of the world when an airman makes a home in the belly of a beast?”
Since finding out my plans to give the Fleet to Ryo, many were unhappy. They thought it would be better to give the letharan city to Ryo. He, at the very least, was comfortable with that way of life.
I probably should. It was the smart thing to do and my heart wished for nothing more than to reside on the fleet.
But I had ideas for the winter, bringing the airships out of the life-threatening winter air, and within the lethara instead. To do that, however, there was much I had to prepare for with less than two years to do it in.
I could delegate that work to Ryo. I knew that.
But a dark feeling filled my chest. Something bad was about to happen. It was the feeling I got whenever I had done something bad and knew Father had found out. Or the feeling I got in the pit of my stomach each time I went to meet Mother before I’d received my Mark.
I concentrated on our docking.
The refueling station was one long, black metal platform broken only by the oblong cabin that stretched the length of the deck, and a large, glass dome. The metal was heavy and required huge fans along the bottom to push the air and keep the flying fortress afloat. Those fans were powered by a fuel that burned into nothing other than waste. If I was serious about keeping it, which I was, then I needed to find a better way to keep it afloat.
A larger refueling station appeared out of the mountain of clouds and maneuvered next to us. The storm was rising. Normally, we would rise with it in order to stay out of the hunting territory of the sky cats.
But they didn’t attack refueling stations. I was pretty sure it was because of all the noise they made. It was amazing.
Several men ran toward our ship and grabbed the mooring lines that were tossed across. They wore a mismatched array of partial uniforms and civilian clothing. I needed to know how the crew felt, and what their intentions were.
Shouts heralded our arrival and people scurried out of the oblong cabin. They lined up, one beside the other, at least twelve rows deep. I didn’t remember having this many people to start off with. As I leapt from the rail of the Yusrra Samma to the platform, everyone finished gathering, standing at attention.
I wasn’t sure what I was supposed to do with them. They were obviously waiting for something.
A man met me halfway. He wore most of a uniform of the House of Swords, though he’d lost the tunic. His blonde hair was loose and longer than regulation standards. He saluted with two stiff fingers. “Ready for your orders,” he said in Handish.
I tapped my fists together. “If you’re going to work with the tribes, you need to know their customs. We speak Adalic while I’m on board.”
He pursed his lips and swallowed. “I will be sure to teach everyone, but I do not think we are all fluent in that language.”
I surveyed the men and women gathered in front of me. “I understand. I’m not expecting you to shift overnight. But you might want to clue everyone in to that custom. It is pretty important, and it’s a good way to upset a visiting family member.”
He dipped his head. “Understood, sir. What are your orders?”
I clasped my hands behind my back. “I don’t think I can give orders until I know what it is that I’m dealing with. Are you the one in charge?”
